SpaceX Wants to Start Launching Internet Satellites by 2019
In the start of 2016, SpaceX announced an ambitious plan to create a network of satellites that would bring high-speed internet access to the entire world. According to the announcement, the company would launch a series of satellites orbiting at about three times the distance of the ISS.
Then, in November, the company filed an application with the FCC. The application laid out a plan to put over 4,000 satellites in orbit, effectively quadrupling the number of active satellites.
On Wednesday, SpaceX attended a congressional hearing where it released its proposed timetable for this plan. According to a statement read by SpaceX Vice President Patricia Cooper, SpaceX plans to begin launching satellites in 2019. The company will gradually increase the number of launches per year until all the satellites are launched by 2024.
If SpaceX manages to pull this off, it will be the most ambitious satellite-launching operation in history. If SpaceX sticks to this schedule, it would be launching more satellites per year than every country on Earth combined.
SpaceX is uniquely positioned to pull this off due to its reusable Falcon 9 rockets, but this is a tall order even for the pioneering rocket maker. SpaceX is excellent at building rockets but so far has little experience in designing satellites, and the company would have to contend with placing so many satellites in an already crowded region of space.
If SpaceX is successful, however, its satellite internet service could be profitable enough to pay for the company's ultimate plan to send humans to Mars. The network would be able to reach gigabit speeds with a latency of only 25 milliseconds, comparable to most high-speed fiber networks.
Source: Ars Technica
In the start of 2016, SpaceX announced an ambitious plan to create a network of satellites that would bring high-speed internet access to the entire world. According to the announcement, the company would launch a series of satellites orbiting at about three times the distance of the ISS.
Then, in November, the company filed an application with the FCC. The application laid out a plan to put over 4,000 satellites in orbit, effectively quadrupling the number of active satellites.
On Wednesday, SpaceX attended a congressional hearing where it released its proposed timetable for this plan. According to a statement read by SpaceX Vice President Patricia Cooper, SpaceX plans to begin launching satellites in 2019. The company will gradually increase the number of launches per year until all the satellites are launched by 2024.
If SpaceX manages to pull this off, it will be the most ambitious satellite-launching operation in history. If SpaceX sticks to this schedule, it would be launching more satellites per year than every country on Earth combined.
SpaceX is uniquely positioned to pull this off due to its reusable Falcon 9 rockets, but this is a tall order even for the pioneering rocket maker. SpaceX is excellent at building rockets but so far has little experience in designing satellites, and the company would have to contend with placing so many satellites in an already crowded region of space.
If SpaceX is successful, however, its satellite internet service could be profitable enough to pay for the company's ultimate plan to send humans to Mars. The network would be able to reach gigabit speeds with a latency of only 25 milliseconds, comparable to most high-speed fiber networks.
Source: Ars Technica
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